The present invention relates to a metal/plastic composite front panel for a motor vehicle.
Such a panel is a structural element of the vehicle which is capable of incorporating various items of equipment of the vehicle, such as headlamps, direction indicators, horn, heat exchanger, electric fan unit or entire cooling module, etc.
The front panel, provided in this manner with these items of equipment, forms a single-unit assembly prepared and delivered by the equipment supplier, which is ready to be mounted on the vehicle by the manufacturer.
The mounting of this module is performed by connection to lateral structural elements of the vehicle, such as side members, wings or body-frame, then positioning a bumper or front shield mounted on the module.
As a panel structure which is made entirely of plastic material does not enable the safety requirements of the crash tests to be complied with, for the structure of the front panel it is necessary to combine elements made of plastic material (for lightness and low manufacturing cost) and metal elements (for mechanical strength). The method that is currently used consists of producing a section from a deep-drawn sheet and mounting it onto a plastic support by screwing or rivetting fixing sleeves.
In addition to this section, the panel comprises a central metal jamb comprising at its lower end a hole for fixing it to the beam of the shield or of the bumper of the vehicle. At its other end, the jamb is provided with a system for fixing it to the bonnet lock of the vehicle. The jamb thus ensures, with the bonnet closed, the mechanical connection between bonnet and shield to contribute to the overall rigidification of the structure of the vehicle.
The mounting of this jamb is usually performed by screwing together the bonnet lock and the jamb, with the interposition of a part of the panel, so as to interlock these three elements.
However, in this configuration, the connection between the panel and the jamb remains dismountable, so that a user of the vehicle may, for example after adjusting the lock, forget to reset all its fixing points, thus reducing the strength of the vehicle in the event of an accident.
One of the objects of the present invention is to remove this drawback, by proposing a front panel structure incorporating the central jamb which guarantees the overall mechanical strength and dispenses with dismountable assemblies.
The front panel of the invention is a composite panel of the known type, comprising a top metal section extending over the whole width of the panel and provided with means for fixing it to structural elements of the vehicle, as well as at least a central jamb comprising means for fixing to a bonnet lock, on the one hand, and a shield beam of the vehicle, on the other hand.
According to the invention, the section and the jamb are mechanically interlocked to form a single-unit assembly, said assembly being overmoulded with a element made plastic material of the panel.
The element made of plastic material advantageously comprises vertical ribs for strengthening the section.
The section and the jamb may be joined before overmoudling the plastic element, in particular by clinching, welding or rivetting, or in addition during the overmoulding process, in particular by clinching.